


Warmth In The Cold

by orphan_account



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Fluff, I don't know what else to tag, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-17
Updated: 2014-11-17
Packaged: 2018-02-25 18:14:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,256
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2631458
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nico finds himself in an unknown cave and too weak to shadow travel away.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Warmth In The Cold

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place about a year after BoO. But there aren't any spoilers or anything.   
> Calypso didn't happen.

It was excruciatingly cold and the darkness was so intense, he was certain he had gone blind. The floor beneath him was hard and gravelled and there was a cold breeze that stung his already numb skin.

He was sitting, with his back leaning against a rough wall, cross-legged. He was too afraid to make a single sound but he was sure his heavy heart beat could be heard from miles away in this cave. The cave in which the silence was almost cacophony.

Nico di Angelo had somehow found himself here after attempting to shadow travel away without picturing where he needed to go. It was a big mistake as he was clueless about where he was now and he was too tired to shadow travel away. That and he found it extra hard to shadow travel in pitch black areas. He was too afraid he would fade out of existence forever.

Nico couldn't bear that thought.  He was past his sad, brooding past. He had life to go through. He had a sister, a best friend and for the first time Nico could remember, he had friends.

The sound of footsteps shook him out of his reverie. He could see a faint light somewhere far ahead. It made him feel better and stronger. Too much darkness weakened him, made him fear fading again. He wondered if he should feel scared or try to hide. Then he realised that he couldn't see but the unknown person had the advantage of light.

Nico tried to remain as quiet as possible.  He was too afraid to call for help. What if this person wasn't very friendly? At least, Nico assumed it was a person. He doubted it was a monster. It could be. He hoped not; monsters could smell fear ridden demigods.

The unknown person had come close enough that Nico could now see a rough silhouette of it. He was certain it was a person now. They had messy hair and a thin frame. The person seemed short but he wasn't sure yet. So far the person had not noticed Nico. He wondered what the person was doing here. Exploring maybe?

Nico contemplated calling for help but before he could make a decision the light shone straight at him. He flinched; the light hurt his eyes. The person must have heard him because he started approaching closer to Nico.

Nico moved into a more flexible position. Unfortunately, he was still too weak to stand. It took him a few tries to hold his sword steady as he was still faded. Curse this darkness. He felt cold all over, like he was soaked in ice-cold water then put in a cool breeze. Except, he was certain there wasn't any wind around.

"Who are you?" came a voice. It took Nico a few seconds to realise it was the figure. Then something clicked in his head. That voice... he had heard it many times. He just wasn't sure who it belonged to at this moment but it was at the back of his mind waiting to be captured.

"Who are you?" the voice demanded again. It was low and sounded even a little scared. The figure came closer. Only when the silhouette of his messy, unruly hair and the thin, scrawny frame was clear did Nico realise who it was.

"Leo?" Nico asked, shocked.

At the same time, Leo's voice was a whisper, "Nico?" Leo sat right in front of him and shone the torch over his pale figure, avoiding his face. "What are you doing here?"

Nico's voice sounded weak and pathetic to him. "I accidentally shadow travelled here. Where is this?"

"You're in one of the hidden tunnels under Cabin 9, Nico." Leo informed. Then added, "Are you alright? You look horrible."

"Shadow travelling into pitch black areas weakens me tremendously. But it's never this bad in closer places." Nico replied. It was strange. He shadow travelled just under camp and yet felt like he travelled miles.

"Oh. That's because the tunnels are kind of like the labyrinth. What seems like five feet could be about two hundred. And we're quite deep in."

Nico scowled. "What are you doing here anyway?" Nico wished he were like Hazel, that he could navigate underground places easily.  But, he couldn't and he just had to live with it.

Leo put his hands on his hips. "Well, Mr Grumpy Pants. This tunnel happens to be built by children of Hephaestus. I'm helping to map it out."

Nico felt himself weaken some more. Talking drained him. It was probably because he barely did. “Do you have some ambrosia?"

Leo looked at Nico with concern. "How badly weakened are you man? And yes, I have some." He took out a small square from his magical tool belt and gave it to Nico. Their fingers touched and Nico quickly retracted his hand.

Nico threw the small piece into his mouth. "Thank you." he mumbled.

Leo examined him. Without warning, he placed a hand on Nico's arm, where his skin was bare. Leo's touch spread warmth across his hands. Nico felt ashamed at himself for feeling disappointed when Leo removed his hand.

"Gods. You're freezing." Leo observed.

"And you're warm." Nico didn't mean to say that. He was supposed to glare or completely ignore Leo. It's what he usually did.

Leo raised an eyebrow. "Well it looks like we're stuck here for a while."

"What do you mean we're stuck here for a while? Did you forget how to get out?"

"It's nice to know that you think so highly of me." Leo replied, sarcastically. "I happen to be a gentleman, who wouldn't leave you behind. And you're in no shape to get out right now."

Nico rolled his eyes. He doubted Leo could see it in the darkness. "I don't need your help."

"I doubt you could even stand up for a long time now."

Nico crossed his arms. "Oh yeah?"

Nico stood up but as soon as he was standing straight his knees buckled and he nearly fell on his ass. Fortunately, Leo caught him. Nico, feeling ashamed of his naïvety, pushed the Latino away and sat down angrily.

Leo looked at Nico with a smug smile. "My point exactly."

"Just hand me more ambrosia and I'll be fine."

"No can do, Casper. I only had that much."

Nico scowled some more. "What kind of idiotic demigod goes out with so little ambrosia? I thought your tool belt was supposed to be able to get anything out?" Nico regretted his words immediately. A shadow of hurt passed over Leo's cheer face. It disappeared as quickly as it came, although the son of Hephaestus’s smile wasn't as wide as before.

"I happen to have had some myself. Not so easy navigating this place you know. Loads of monsters. You're lucky this was one of the protected areas." Leo said. His tone had a trace of anger and hurt in it. "And my tool belt can't take anything out. Ambrosia doesn't happen to be on the list unless I put some in myself."

Nico huffed and leaned against the wall. "Fine."

Leo leaned back against the wall too, sitting with his legs stretched out. He willed some scrap from his tool belt and started tinkering with it. He also put on a head torch and passed Nico the hand torch, which Nico gladly accepted. More light would mean a lesser possibility of fading.

"How long are we planning on staying here?" Nico asked, curiosity getting the best of him.

Without looking away from his project, Leo replied. "One of my siblings will be here soon. We always map the tunnels out together. This is our meeting base. We compare our results here before going back."

Nico nodded, not knowing what else to say. Then he realised that Leo wasn't even looking at him but at his project. Before he could say something, Leo spoke. "She'll have more ambrosia."

"Who is she?" Nico asked.

"Her name's Enya. She arrived soon after I did."

Neither boy said anything for a long time. The only noises were from Leo tinkering with scrap metal and Nico's sigh when his torch ran out of battery. Soon after, Leo's torch was out too.

Nico shivered against his will. The cold and darkness hit him again, making him feel weak. He wished he had his jacket on, but that's what you get when you shadow travel from your room. 

Leo conjured a small fire from his palm. The sight of it was reassuring and gave Nico some warmth. "Are you cold?"

Nico meekly nodded. He felt his energy sapping away. The light only helped a little.  Nico would need a lot of unicorn draught when he got back to camp. Will Solace, the healer who was one of his closest friends, would probably have him stay in the infirmary for a day or two. He was fussy and protective that way.

Leo shifted closer to Nico, which caused the younger boy to feel uncomfortable. But Nico didn't move away, Leo's body heat warmed him, therefore refilling his energy.

Yet, it wasn't enough. Nico oddly felt like he wanted more of Leo's warmth. The thought perplexed him. He didn’t want to feel this away about Leo. He’d end up hurting himself or hurting Leo. Nico shivered again.

"You're still cold." Leo observed. He moved closer to Nico until their shoulders and legs were touching.

If the circumstances were normal, Nico would have flinched away and glared at the offender. Instead, Nico found himself leaning into Leo's touch. The touch that sent waves of warmth and strength through his veins.

Leo looked into Nico's eyes. "Better?"

Nico nodded. "Thank you."

Leo's eyes were a deep brown enhanced by the glowing flame. It looked like a gem he remembered Hazel accidentally summoning once. She told him it was a smoked topaz and that was exactly how Leo’s eyes looked. His welcoming eyes would capture anyone and have you staring down into the beautiful depths of it. Except, if you really observed Leo's eyes, you would find a kind of sadness in it. It was as if his burdens and troubles reflected in his eyes.

"Can I put my arm around you? If you're okay with it." Leo asked with doubt lacing his voice.

Nico felt uncomfortable with the idea but Leo was so warm and he must have felt awkward having Nico's whole side leaning on his arm. So, with a lace doubt that matched the pyrokinetic's, Nico said that he was fine with it.

Nico felt Leo's left arm wiggle free from being sandwiched between Nico's body and Leo's side and placed around his back with the palm resting on his shoulder.

Warmth. The precious warmth of the son of Hephaestus gave Nico a fuzzy feeling in his stomach. It made him feel contented and at peace as if nothing in the world mattered with Leo's small but muscular arms around him.

He caught himself hoping that this moment would never end. But, he couldn't allow those thoughts. It would only hurt him, Leo or the both of them in the end.

The both laid there for the next twenty minutes or so. Nico felt well enough to leave and addressed it to Leo.

"No. We'll wait for Enya." Leo said.

Nico felt the anger fume in him. "I can go by myself."

"You're not going anywhere till you have a least a bit more ambrosia." Leo's voice had a sense of finality in it.

Nico didn't understand why Leo was feeling so protective of him. He wiggled free of Leo's grip and felt the cold hit him again. But, it wasn't so bad this time; the warmth had helped.

Not in the mood to argue, Nico slumped back down against the wall with an angry grunt. A few minutes later, he started shivering again. Nico groaned to himself.

"Nico?" Leo called.

Nico glared at the son of Hephaestus, who had his arms open. One of them still conjured a bright flame that cast an eerie glow of Leo's elvish face. Nico figured he was asking is Nico would like some of his stupid warmth.

"Oh come on, Grumpy Face." Leo had a cheerful smile. "You're gonna die of hypothermia or something and I don't want the Nico di Angelo Protection Squad to kill me."

Nico raised his eyebrow. "The  _what_?"

Now Leo's cheerful smile turned into a smirk. "I won't tell you unless you accept my offer of free warm hugs."

Nico sighed and rolled his eyes. "Fine." he grumbled. He scooted closer and leaned into Leo's warmth. He once again felt better and more butterflies erupted in his stomach. Curse the son of Hephaestus’s body heat. "Now tell me what it is."

Leo shrugged. "The Stoll brothers started calling Hazel, Jason, Reyna and Will your protection squad since they're just so protective over you and it just stuck."

Nico scowled, not liking that people thought he needed a protection squad. How stupid was that? “That’s just pointless.”

“Is it?”

Nico nodded and they stayed like that for a while more. Nico wondered if he would ever be in this positionagain. He was safe and warm in Leo’s arms with strength seeping through him all because of the Latino’s warmth. The flicker from Leo’s fire lit up his face and the space a few feet around them. He wanted to kiss the pyrokinetic. Nico bet it would make him warmer.

“You’re staring at me.” Leo announced.

“Wh... what?” Nico stuttered feeling a blush rise into his cheeks. Hopefully, the flames weren’t bright enough to make them obvious. He’d been told that he was so pale, even the slightest blush made him as red as a tomato.

Leo smirked. “Yes, you definitely were.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He felt himself blush some more.

Leo placed his free palm on Nico’s cheek. Once again, the warmth fled into his veins and the butterflies did loops in his stomach. Did a single touch from Leo have to make him feel this way?

“You’re even blushing. That’s cute.” Leo said. He stroked Nico’s cheek once. “You’re adorable, you know?”

Nico felt dizzy, he had never been in a position like this before. Was Leo teasing him? Nico tried to say something but he had no idea what to say. All he could feel was Leo’s palm on his cheek, the warmth and the butterflies going crazy in his stomach.

Then, the next thing Nico was aware of was soft, warm lips on his. And he felt more warmth spread through his body. He leaned into the kiss and closed his eyes. Leo had doused his flame and placed his other palm, which was much warmer, on Nico’s right cheek. Nico felt more confident and wrapped his arms around Leo’s body.

Nico had kissed several times before, but it had never felt this good. If the butterflies were bad before, they went crazy now. It was as if they were fluttering around Nico’s stomach and screaming, “oh my gods!” over and over again.

The kiss broke when Nico heard a feminine voice whisper, “holy fucking shit.”

Nico immediately pulled away and stood up, grabbing his sword for defence. In front of him stood a girl.

Leo stood up while groaning in exasperation and Nico decided that this girl probably was Enya. He felt slightly irritated that she had to pick that time to come in.

Leo voiced Nico's thoughts. "You have the  _worst_ timing ever, En."

The girl had one arm on her hip and her free arm held an extremely big torch. She also had head torch and basically lit up the whole area with her entrance.

Enya was short, only about five feet and two inches, but she made up for it with her looks. She was dark-skinned and had freckles splattered around her cheeks. She wore the normal Camp Half Blood shirt, but itwas ripped around the sleeves and she had drawn little designs on it. Her skinny jeans too had little drawings.

What made her most striking though were hair and eyes. Enya's hair was dyed turquoise and it curled around her face, ending just below her neck. Her eyes were a striking blue, the kind of blue you'd find in the innermost zone of a flame. And it was traced with dark eyeliner, making it shine out. She had a big pair of glasses on with a stud on each side, but Nico noticed that the glasses were fake as they had no lenses.

Driving his attention away from the girl, he could now take in the layout of the cave. The walls were dark and uneven but the ground was quite smooth and shiny. It was a vast space and tall enough for a young Cyclops to jump around. A few feet away from them, was an opening that probably leads to another cave or tunnel.

Nico was suddenly aware of the coldness in the cave and the absence of Leo’s warmth. He crossed his arms and softly rubbed against them. Leo noticed and asked his half-sister, “En, do you have some ambrosia?”

Her eyebrows furrowed. “Did you get hurt?” she asked Nico.

“No. Shadow travel leaves me weakened in dark places.” He replied.

Enya nodded and grabbed some ambrosia from her knapsack. She broke off a small piece and handed it to Nico. “Why did you come here?”

Nico muttered a thank you and ate the piece. It tasted like the brownies his mom and Bianca used to bake when he was a little boy. It made feel sad and homesick. But what is the point of feeling homesick, when you don’t have the home to get back to anymore?

Nico sighed. “It was a stupid mistake. I didn’t have a place in mind.” Now, Nico questioned if it was a mistake. If he recalled properly, he was thinking of Leo before shadow travelling. But that could just be his mind playing tricks on him.

Enya nodded and Nico was surprised she didn’t put him down for making such a mistake. Instead she said, “So you’re the mystery guy Leo wouldn’t stop talking about for weeks.”

Nico felt confused. Leo wouldn’t stop talking about him; he was crushing on Nico? “ _What?_ ”

Leo sighed with exasperation. “You’re the most horrendous sister.”

Enya grinned. “You love me.”

Nico was still lost and it must have shown on his face because Enya looked at him and said, “My idiot brother over here couldn’t stop talking about his ‘mystery crush whose name I will never reveal to my untrustworthy sister’ for the past few months.”

Nico looked at Leo and tilted his head to the side. “You have a crush on  _me_?”

Leo grinned sheepishly. “Why do you think I kissed you?”

“Oh.” Nico supposed that made sense. Why else would Leo have kissed him right?

“Does that mean I can kiss you again?” Leo inquired, with a shy grin.

Nico felt his own lips forming a small smile. “I suppose so.”

Their lips met again, with warmth spreading through Nico’s body. It was like Leo was Nico’s warmth to his cold.

“Come on, guys. You can continue this at camp.” Enya sighed. “Monsters may come.”

Nico and Leo broke apart again and looked in each other’s eyes. With hands clasped they followed an exasperated Enya out of the cave. Hopefully, they wouldn’t find any monsters. Nico doubted that.

**Author's Note:**

> I love how Enya turned out. She's the best OC ever, I swear.  
> Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this. It's the longest fic I've written.  
> Follow me on tumblr if you like. www.popcorn-ourfatalweakness.tumblr.com


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